My June

My June has been a slow one. It's been an cold Winter. Not unusually cold, but the last 10 years or so have been unusually warm, according to an article I read a few months ago, and it's only just getting back to normal now. Still, normal after 10 years of not-normal takes just as much getting used to! I'm really enjoying the frosts, the chilly mornings and snuggling into the doona at night. This month has also been slow for health reasons as well -- a sprained ankle and some digestive problems. I managed to do a little bit, though.

What I've been drawing ...
I've been motivated to do a little more drawing this month. There's been a lot of inspiration in the air -- the Mori Girl Challenge, re-visiting artist's blogs, and the discovery of artists I wasn't aware of before. Looking to others for inspiration is a double-edged sword though. I become acutely aware of how far I am from where I want to be, and how little time I have to practice drawing and painting. Not to mention finding one artist whose work is so similar to what I'd like to do, that it makes me wonder why I should bother at all. Yet something makes me want to keep going. It's the need to create, even if no-one else ever sees it.

60 Things : #58 : Dumplings

Totemistic creatures from my dreams.
What I've been working on ...
Work on setting up our hobby room is going slow, but at least it's progressing. We've painted the feature wall and bought some lighting strips from Ikea. Next steps are to install the lighting and paint the sewing table.

Bad night-time photo. Sorry!
What I've been reading ...
I read The Book of Dead Philosophers by Simon Critchley. It contains short summaries of philosophers' views on death throughout history, along with a note on how they died if known. It sounds terribly morbid, but it's actually witty, interesting and at times even funny. I want to follow up now and read more about many philosophers' lives and writings.

What I've been doing ...

I was talking to a friend a few weeks ago -- she said that she has very long to-do lists, and often finds herself focusing on what she hasn't done yet, rather than what she's achieved. I'm often guilty of this, too. Someone had suggested that she keep a parallel list of things she's done, so that instead of just crossing things off and forgetting about them, she can celebrate her achievements, both big and small. I really like this idea, so I in my spare moments I started jotting down a list of things I've done. I know that I have my monthly wrap-up here on the blog, but there are so many things I think are too small to mention, or I didn't have my camera with me (or wasn't allowed to take photos!), or aren't art/craft-related. I'm going to list them here now. I don't know if I'll do this every month, but we'll see.

re-stocked my ipod with music ~ baked a pumpkin bread ~ crocheted 3 blue inners, 3 pink inners ~ decided to be more assertive ~ made chocolate crackles ~ had a mini party for my niece and nephew ~ bought 2 new shelves in Grow Legends ~ painted the hobby room ~ wrote some haikus ~ sentenced and archived some transcripts ~ started some plant babies ~ crocheted 3 rows on my shawl ~ updated the RDAs ~ had a health checkup ~ got new glasses ~ went to the Circus ~ wrote a story ~ made a doll scarf ~ learned how to do Suguru puzzles ~ had a glueing session ~ did 2 drawings ~ did some Processing ~ started walking again ~ sentenced the visitors' books ~ wrote a massive pen review ~ took photos ~ wrote some observations ~ read a book ~ went to the Chai Tea Festival ~ made my own chai tea blend ~ appraised 2 tubs of files ~ did a What I Wore drawing ~ went to Ikea ~ finished an old story